


I was in pain

by vasglass



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 00:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18680254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vasglass/pseuds/vasglass
Summary: Stark sighed irritably and rubbed the bridge of his nose.Loki.8 a.m. – and he got a call from Loki.





	I was in pain

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Было больно](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/478345) by Rana13. 



> You can find the original work on the ficbook.net

When Thor shook his hand so hard that he almost broke it, Tony almost forcibly gave him an emergency call communicator: not a phone that Asgardian couldn’t use and didn’t want to know how, but at least something. Tony planned it to be almost like a regular phone, with a cool clear interface, a titanium case and a short list of contacts: the voice signal – in the Solar System, the emergency SOS button – will cross the light years.

None of the Avengers will die in space in total, deaf loneliness.

Never.

So, when Tony heard the red alarm, he immediately threw all his affairs away and texted Pepper: “All later, busy with Avengers”. It was crazy, nothing could have happened with Thor, not now, not when he’s building a new world for the refugees in the safety of Wakanda…

Maybe Thor just checked if the device was operational, or even accidently pressed a button. Now he’ll laugh at the phone and Stark will want to kill him, as he has already covered himself with cold sweats of fear for the safety of the Earth.

It’s better to be paranoid than dead. Play it safe, without having to collect other’s people bodies later. But on the other side there was neither danger nor the dead.

**~**

_-Hey_

It’s not Thor.

And none of Thor’s allies. Because they, even a little drunk Valkyrie, wouldn’t call Tony on the emergency communicator channel to softly and intimately breathe out into the phone:

 _-_ _Hey, do you know the symptoms of oxycodone poisoning? I have no idea what it is, but the word is in the composition._

_-Who are you?_

_-And who are you? I chose accidently._

Tony breathed out loudly. Whoever was speaking into the phone, the meteorites didn’t seem to fall on them and another bloated danger did not threat the world. The skeleton of the inflated nerves released Stark’s thorax and oxygen began to flow into his lungs again.

And with it – anger and sanity.

What the fuck!?

   - _Who are you and where’s Odinson?_

_-I am Odinson!_

The voice was laughing. Something flapped in Stark’s memory – something mocking, light, distant… Tony had definitely spoken to him before.

He just couldn’t remember when and where.

   - _I know Thor in person, I’m not an idiot._

_-Okay, well, cheated a little. Hey, you’re Stark, aren’t you? Only one person calls him that. Hey, answer me._

_-Where did you get the communicator?_

_-I stole it…from my brother. He didn’t even notice._

Stark sighed irritably and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Loki.

8 a.m. – and he got a call from Loki. Tony didn’t get a chance to speak to Loki after New York events because he didn’t really want to. Loki provided sufficient support in the war for Tony not to want to throw him off from dozens of floors too, but he could not become a welcome guest anywhere.

According to rumors, the king T’Challa politely denied him asylum. Thor, as he was just a year ago, would have proudly left – but Thor who was trying to be a king was forced to agree to the conditions of Wakanda, which did not only kindly accept refugees in its expanses, but also gave them full support: home, food, shelter, hope for a better future.

Loki settled not so far. Bought an apartment, apparently did not cause any trouble.

And now this trouble fell on Stark’s head. And the fact that Thor, according to Bruce’s words, flew back and forth more than in his entire life, was not enough. But if Thor was enough to restrain Loki, there would be no problems with the younger Asgardian prince.

   - _Hey, are you still here?_

An accurate and subtle signal conveyed the rustle of cloth and a quite creak. Sitting on the couch, lying on the bed?

Tony didn’t wish to know the details of Loki’s life, but he had no choice left.

_-Listen, what’s with that “hey”? Asgardian things?_

_-Saw in the movie. I like how it sounds. By the way, I don’t know where Thor is. I escaped from him._

Awesome.

Thot should look better after his property. Any type.

   - _So will you answer my question?_

_-What do you need?_

He wanted to drop the phone. Forget about Loki. It is not his business.

While Loki doesn’t kill anyone and doesn’t try to rule the world – it’s not.

    - _My stomach is full of percocet. I took all the packaging._

Damn it!

At least now all the nonsense Loki was telling suddenly formed into a whole organic picture. If he’s lying somewhere with such a deadly dose of a narcotic painkiller in his blood, that explains literally everything.

   - _Friday, find where he is, now!_

**_-Yes, sir._ **

_-This is not quite a fair call for help!_ – Loki said meanwhile into the phone and probably the bed really creaked. Tony suddenly vividly imagined how he rolled, threw his head back, pressing the communicator to his ear, how the skin tightened on his throat and how his mouth twisted in a smirk, letting out a tongue to his parched lips.

   - _More likely I just want…attention?_

Loki’s eyebrows interrogatively soared upward in Tony’s imagination. Stark shook his head.

   _-That’s not a secret to anyone. Just don’t faint. Do you have a headache?_

_-I think so. The room is spinning. Will you finish me yourself?_

_-Absolutely._

_**-Sir, he’s in the country.**_

Great – and it despite the fact that Thor with his team is on another continent. As good as it gets.

   _-Can I die because of this?_

There was no intonation of suicidal person in Loki’s voice: he’s not desperate, not tired, there’re no sobs or tears. The god inquired with lively curiosity.

Like it was a wonderful adventure.

But honestly, Tony has nothing to answer.

Tony has conducted experiments on Thor even in those times when New York was still damaged and the world and the villains were simple and clear. Stark kindly invited Helen Cho on the VIP trip to his tower and the three of them (with Bruce) sat the space alien om the chair and purposefully to finish him on the name of science. Most of terrestrial chemical compounds did not affect the Asgardian at all and rare necessary medicines had to be administered exclusively with a dropper in horse dosages. The percocet packaging didn’t do anything to Thor, but Loki was already on the Saturn.

So the drug was effective, one way or another.

   - _I’ve already been to Helheim. Want me to tell you about it?_

Whether he dies or not, Loki was not quite in his mind.

At the last moment, Tony decided not to use his noticeable suit. The very presence of Loki in the states is hardly legal, and Friday said that he can be reached by car in a couple of hours and already laid a route.

While running, Tony rode on his soles. Loki’s tone in the earpiece has become lower.

   - _My sister’s kingdom… Will that impress you? Or shall we restrict with deathbed wheezes?.._

_-You have a sister? Is she crazy too or do your family have some nice members?_

_-Oh yeah, she’s a sweetheart. Beauty, just like me. Ripped Thor’s eye out._

_-You’re high, beauty._

Loki laughed again and Tony heard  how drunk he was. The ghost of Stark’s long-lived past life…

After all the panic attacks he should have just press the button and end this conversation.

But if Loki gets unconsciousness and will not wake up, when Tony won’t be able to sleep peacefully being the last person with whom this psycho spoke. People and creatures that Stark would not help can be counted on the fingers of one hand and they all don’t live on Earth.  Loki would come to him in the nightmares and ask him if this revenge was worth it.

You’re an Avenger, aren’t you, Stark?

It is not worth it.

Also, Thor would never forgive this.

   - _Now the whole room is turned upside down._

Okay, this is a bust.

   _-Aren’t you upside down?_

Pause. Silence.

   _-Surprisingly, you are right. My head is so heavy…_

Probably his head was really thrown back. At the edge of the bed, his hair hanging down, his eyes staring up and down across the room…

Fucking awful.

   - _Just don’t drop the phone._

_-Decided it is interesting? Do you think your tricky device will work in the afterlife? Prepared for flying to Helheim in ten…nine....._

_Eight........seven……….._

Tony pressed the gas pedal to the floor. Stark was going to get to Loki in an hour.

**~**

The tires screeched near the fashionable hotel in forty minutes. The blindingly white facade shouted that with the money you pay for one night here you can live a week in Brooklyn. At first, Tony even decided that Friday was mistaken, but Loki stopped responding ten minutes ago, so Stark parked his car across the street and went to the back door.

For the secrecy of Iron Man’s mission and opening the door the guard took only two hundred dollars. Tony himself added  a hundred – just in case.

Loki settled down somewhere on the upper floors. Practice and old love to scattering money told Stark that apartments there were much more expensive.

   - _Is he here?_

_- **The communicator is, sir.**_

Tony was acting like a good guy. Before breaking the door or opening the lock, he struck the door with his fist.

Suddenly, the lock quickly clicked and Loki opened the door. Disheveled, in a badly worn cape-robe in cosmic-asgardian style, with a feverish gleam in his eyes – Loki was not well, so not well. And his issues have not diminished over the years.

For a second or two, Loki was looking at him in bewilderment, demonstrating his enlarged pupils. But then, stealingly looking around the corridor, Loki grabbed his collar and pulled him into the room.

The door slammed shut.

The white spacious room had huge windows letting in enormous amount of light, high ceilings and walnut furniture. As if having absolutely forgotten about the guest, Loki went into the adjacent passage and Stark managed to see how he fell backwards into the cloud of a duvet on a soft bed. It was amazing how accurate Tony guessed: all the laying, all the throwing his head back…

He tucked his bare feet at first, but then straightened them, hung them out of the bed, spread out in a star-pose and fell silent. His boots were laying in the different corners of the room.

When Tony came up, he didn’t see any trace of madness in Loki. Weathered lips, tired wet face, shallow breathing. Nothing common with either the New York invader or the hero Loki was in Thor’s stories.

However, Tony was lying to himself.

During the New York fight Loki also looked terrible. So much so, that, after a while, after the news that Phil Coulson was alive, Stark unwittingly wondered if his actions were unforced.

The communicator near the pillow.

Packaging of drugs on the table.

Thanos should have been convincing, since Loki willingly went to hell to destroy even the atoms of his body.

   _-Did I call you?_

_-You scoffed at me. How did you pay for the room?_

A credit card suddenly appeared between Loki’s fingers. As some are able to play with the coin, he rolled it from the thumb to the little finger and back. Tony picked up an empty box of percocet from the table.

Loki had a whole handful of ten milligram pills in him.

   _-Friday, symptoms of overdose?_

_- **They are obvious, sir.**_

_-Give me a list. And scan him._

In his mind Tony made a note about the need to call the Savior. This suit is not for him, but it has a lot of medical portable equipment. Friday quickly began to falter, giving out unknown spots: the range of possibilities was limited, but that’s not the point. Loki wasn’t only not a human, but also not an Asgardian.

There wasn’t enough information.

The credit cart was still rolling.

Tony snapped his fingers to get Loki’s distracted attention.

   - _You stole a credit card too?_

_-No, it’s a trick. The card seems to exist, but in fact it doesn’t._

_-Money is not to withdraw from it._

_-According to the data when I’m already moved out._

In the greenish flash of illusion the card disappeared. Of course there was no payment information, but the fact that Loki doesn’t have shame and conscience will not cause a hotel huge losses. Tony chose not to think about how Loki got into the States.

After all, the Aesir arrived here on a spaceship. The distance from one continent to another must be trivial, and, according to rumors, Loki was as good at piloting as Stark was in driving.

But in this case he would have to steal the ship…

“You think too much.”

The hypothetically hijacked ship is not an urgent problem right now.

   - _Loki, get up._

Tony caught him by the elbow, pulled him up, but didn’t move him at all. Loki stirred sluggishly, shook his head and took a gasping sigh.

   _-Crazy… psycho, -_ second attempt was more effective. Stark managed to get Loki in a sitting position. He swayed. -Why did you do that?

   - _I was in pain and these are painkillers._

_-At least pretend you’re trying._

The simple way to the bathroom took six minutes. Tony ceased to perceive Loki as at least some kind of threat when it turned out that he was being hard pushed to the right and his vestibular apparatus made Loki not to fit into the turns. Finally dragging strangely heavy for his physique god – high bone density? muscle? – Tony insidiously left him on the floor and returned with three bottles of water.

It was a bad plan, but it worked: when Stark made Loki to drink all the water, Loki turned white, pressed his palm to his mouth and understandingly darted to the toilet. With the remnants of food and the sour smell he was vomiting with undigested pills.

Tony unwittingly put a hand on his back. Loki’s shoulder blades were violently shivering, but it is better that way than the remaining active substance to be drawn into the blood.

Loki whimpered convulsively and spat out a rancid saliva. Stark did expect disputes and indignations but for some reasons there weren’t ones.

   - _Give me…_

_-You got it, finally?_

Loki squinted at the substance he had just thrown up.

   _-I am a bunch of some abomination…_

_-Through and through. Do continue._

And, having drunk the leftovers in a gulp, Loki pressed on the root of his tongue himself and crouched again over the toilet. Only water and medicines came out this time.

There was a cold sweat on his pale forehead. Unconsciously erasing it and starting to remember his studentship, Stark held god’s hair and then completely collected them in a ponytail.

The cape-robe was completely open and because of this Tony couldn’t ignore certain things.

A necklace of dark bruise, which was hidden by a collar before, was covering Loki’s neck. His thin breasts was blooming with blue-yellow galaxies of other wounds; but if everything was limited only by external influence. The left rib stuck out strangely and even Stark, who wasn’t versed in medicine, could understand that this wasn’t right. And Friday was ready to show a report about other internal damage which she could detect.

But Tony didn’t need to read it to understand how long the list was. Battles had cripple everyone, but only one person Wakanda with its advanced technology did not agree to accept. So Loki was just suffering, not speaking of this to his brother or any other soul.

_I was in pain and these are painkillers._

In how much pain?

And how long has he been in this condition?

Loki exhaled frantically and tried to rest his forehead against the rim of the toilet. Tony returned the palm to his forehead just in time and this suicidal fool willingly buried his head in Stark’s fingers.

   _-And was it worth it?_

_-I’m still thinking…_

_-No, don’t look there, -_ Stark pulled him back and set him down on the tile. _\- Just sit._

But Loki didn’t obey and stood up with difficulty to rinse his mouth under the tap. He spat three times, but then his knees buckled and Tony had to catch his heavy body. Stark briefly noticed how Loki’s face was distorted while landing on the knees. The lines were already running along his glasses. Incorrectly accreted fractures, bruises of the internal organs – a complete set. The pain is not acute, but chronic, constant. Tony vividly imagined how it was: Loki’s sitting here alone, looking at his hand with a desire for healing and can no longer think about the risks.

One gulp. Volley.

He needed to be taken to the hospital – and, in the absence of other options, in the medical section of the Avengers base. It was not so much altruism speaking in Tony as an objective assessment of the situation.

Loki is injured and he can’t expect for help to come.

   _-Want to come with me? I won’t force you._

_-What for?_

_-Penicillin. Dozed morphine, not like now. X-ray, MRI. You have a rib sticking out, you aware?_

_-My neck hurts much more, - Loki smirked louringly._

Some topics were banned. For example, how did Thor’s brother come back to life – and what led to it.

But hematomas were terrible. Such should only be on the corpses.

   _-You will hand me over to my brother? Arrest me? Or is this a noble forgiveness?_

_-You head is becoming clearer, I see._

Loki nodded, but then immediately dropped his head on Stark’s shoulder. He started to lean again, clung to the inventor’s hand so hard it became painful and human bones crackled, but Tony was already thinking about how it is better to carry him – in the car, on his hands in a suit?

Stark has already made some decisions. During their way, Friday will warn those who need to know, and those who need not – she will cut down in the corridors.

Loki needs a dropper with saline.

   _-Despite the popular opinion, I’m not a selfish bastard_ , - Tony reached for the sink wet god’s face and hair with a cold water. Loki tried to focus his eyes. - _Don’t sleep. Don’t leave me with that shit._

If Loki falls asleep, he will have to be pumped out.

   _-What the hell are you talking about?.._

Complete nonsense, probably.

So Stark was not going to answer.

Loki exhaled, stretched out his legs and sighed with relief. Tony pulled the god close to him so that he wouldn’t slip down to the cold floor and called the suit onto the roof of the hotel.


End file.
